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N.C. time an issue in Dole race
Critics call her 'absentee'
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Published: September 28, 2008
WASHINGTON - Locked in a tight re-election bid, Sen. Elizabeth Dole has become a familiar face in North Carolina this year. She's spent nearly 100 days here, cheering at ACC basketball games and NASCAR races, meeting with troops and local sheriffs, and, of course, attending fundraisers and enjoying plenty of barbecue.
Her frequent travel across North Carolina this year is a departure from previous years, when Dole has spent much less time in the state, a review of Senate travel records shows.
Dole's critics say that the amount of time Dole has spent in North Carolina during her term -- especially 2006, when records document only 13 days of visits -- suggest she is out-of-touch with N.C. voters.
"She's been an absentee and ineffective senator…How can she know if she's effectively serving the people of North Carolina? She's rarely here." said Colleen Flanagan, a spokeswoman for Dole's Democratic opponent, state Sen. Kay Hagan.
Dole and her supporters strongly dispute that charge, pointing out that she has visited every North Carolina county while in office and scores of big cities and small towns. And, they argue, the records present a misleading accounting of the time she spent in the state and the work she does on behalf of its citizens.
"We'll go places in North Carolina, and they'll say, this is the first time they've seen a senator in their town ever, or one of only a few times. That speaks volumes," said Brian Nick, Dole's chief of staff. Dole was not available for comment.
Dole was born in North Carolina. But she spent almost her entire adult life in Washington before establishing residency in her birth state in 2001 in order to run for Senate.
The anti-Washington sentiment of voters is running high this year. Both Congress and the Bush administration have record-low approval ratings, so being seen as too closely tied to the nation's capital could be particularly damaging.
Political analysts say that the perception that Dole spent too much time in Washington and not enough time tending to the home fires is playing a role in her re-election bid.
Polls show that the North Carolina Senate race has tightened in recent weeks. The Cook Political Report, a Washington newsletter, moved Dole's race from "leans Republican" to "tossup" this week.
Jennifer Duffy, a senior editor of the newsletter, wrote in her analysis of the race: "So, how exactly did Dole find herself in this predicament? First, while Dole certainly has a legislative record to tout, voters seem unaware of it. Second, no one disputes the charge that she didn't spend enough time in the state during the first four years of her term."
The travel records show that Dole spent about two months in the state during her first year in office. Between 2004 and 2006 -- when she was tapped by her colleagues to lead efforts to elect Senate Republicans -- the records document a total of two months spent in North Carolina. As she geared up for re-election in 2007, she spent 50 days in the state, followed by 97 days so far this year.
To determine how much time Dole spent in the state, the Winston-Salem Journal reviewed six years of Senate records that document dates of trips paid for by the government, and combed through press releases from her office and reviewed North Carolina newspaper clips.
Dole's staff said that method does not offer an accurate picture, since trips paid for by Dole's campaign or her personally would not show up in the records. The office did not always send out press releases when she returned to the state, and local newspapers did not always cover her visits.
The Journal repeatedly requested a more complete accounting of her North Carolina visits as reflected in the daily schedule kept by her Senate office, which includes both personal and political visits. Dole's office provided a full list of North Carolina visits from June 2007 until the present. Because of record-keeping issues, they said they were unable to find her daily schedule for earlier dates. If the schedule was available, it would likely show many more days spent in the state, they said.
"Unfortunately, we're guilty until proven innocent in terms of how many days we spent there, because we can't document every single trip with an airline receipt," Nick said.
Dole's long absence from North Carolina before returning to run for Senate makes the debate over how much time she spent here more politically perilous for Dole. During her 2002 campaign, critics called her a "carpetbagger."
But her opponent, Erskine Bowles, did not press the issue as hard as he could have, political analysts said. Hagan has revived the line of an attack, part of her larger argument that Dole has been an ineffective representative for North Carolina.
"Kay was born here, has lived in Greensboro for more than 30 years, raised her family here and lives here now -- there's no worry that once elected, she'll leave North Carolina behind," Flanagan said.
Hagan's campaign has also questioned whether Dole truly lives in North Carolina. In 2001, Dole shifted her residence from a condo at the Watergate in Washington to her mother's house in Salisbury, which she later purchased. Dole considers the Salisbury residence her home, Nick said.
But a review of the addresses Dole lists on public records show it's not clear what she considers her official address. The address on her voter registration in North Carolina, for example, now lists her Salisbury home. Until 2007, it listed the Watergate condo. And Federal Election Commission records of campaign contributions made by Dole alternately list Salisbury and, as recently as this year, Washington.
North Carolina's other Republican senator, Richard Burr, appears to spend far more time in North Carolina than Dole, spending virtually every day when Congress is not in session in the state, records show.
"My wife lives in North Carolina, her husband lives in Washington," Burr said. "As you try to balance personal and professional, you have to take into account your need to spend time with your family. My exposure in North Carolina would be totally different if my wife lived in Washington, D.C."
Burr added that he thought Dole had been effective.
Dole's campaign appears worried that the attacks over her time in the state could hurt her. A Dole TV commercial says that she "went all over North Carolina" to work with sheriffs on illegal-immigration issues.
Sam Page, the sheriff of Rockingham County and a Dole supporter, said she helped secure funding to train jail workers to better identify illegal immigrants. "She didn't just start talking to us last week, during the campaign season. She was involved early on," he said.
And some who have worked with her office dispute the notion that there is a correlation between time in the state and effectiveness on issues of importance to North Carolina.
Larry Wooten, the president of the North Carolina Farm Bureau, said that Dole was an effective advocate on such issues as the buyout of tobacco farmers and the farm bill, and has been helpful in disputes with the Department of Agriculture. "She's always been very responsive to our issues and very accessible," he said. "When we have events, she comes to our events. But mainly, our needs from a senator are in Washington; she needs to be in Washington."
■ Sean Mussenden can be reached at 202 662-7668 or at smussenden@mediageneral.com.
■ James Romoser can be reached at 919-833-9056 or at jromoser@wsjournal.com.
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